Re: Detroit News, conservative paper, runs series on poverty

[Michael Pugliese <debsian@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.commoncouragepress.com/
Merchants of Misery
How Corporate America Profits from Poverty
Edited by Michael Hudson
Introduction by Rep. Maxine Waters
http://www.commoncouragepress.com/hudson_misery.html
   Trying to find a cite for a book on the same, from the early 70's, with
an intro. by Ron Dellums,
("The Star Spangled Hustle, " by Blaustein and Faux, preface by Rep. Ronald
V. Dellums.)

found this, what a hoot...from the RW Media watchdogs>
http://www.mediaresearch.org/news/magwatch/mag20000104.html#2
 While there was little political content of note in the magazines, Newsweek
assistant managing editor Evan Thomas reviewed a left-wing book in The
Washington Post arguing the right trounced the left in the 1960s, and "the
so-called War on Poverty was meagerly funded and left to wither." In
favorably reviewing the book America Divided: The Civil War of the '60s by
the radical scholars Maurice Isserman and Michael Kazin, Thomas declared:
"The '60s are generally recalled (and demonized) as an era when the country
lurched to the left. Civil rights, women's lib, the massive peace protests,
a general loosening of morals and widespread assaults on established
authority -- all shook up the country after the sleepy '50s. But many of
these movements were quickly undercut by internal contradictions and class
and cultural strains, and in any case met with a fierce conservative
reaction. If anything, Isserman and Kazin argue, the '60s saw the rise of
the Right -- attacks on the welfare state, a boom in fundamentalist
religion, and a sharp political backlash."

     Thomas continued: "The first liberal icon of the '60s -- President John
F. Kennedy -- was in fact a cautious pragmatist who regarded most liberals
as fools or saps. Lyndon Johnson used utopian rhetoric to call for an end to
poverty and discrimination. But, distracted by Vietnam ('that bitch of a
war'), Johnson never came through on his promises. The so-called War on
Poverty was meagerly funded and left to wither. Liberalism remained an
essentially middle-class movement. Conservatives did a better job connecting
with the lower middle classes and the resentful 'outs' of society.
Right-wingers became the 'populists' while the liberals were mocked as
'limousine liberals.'"

     How Thomas could argue that programs like AFDC or Medicaid "withered"
in the last 30 years must be a troubled yearning for the additional
trillions that might have been spent, not the trillions that were.
<snip>
Michael Pugliese

-----Original Message-----
From: Charles Brown <CharlesB@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: pen-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <pen-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Monday, August 20, 2001 7:18 AM
>Subject: [PEN-L:16076] Detroit News, conservative paper, runs series on
poverty


>
>
>Monday, August 20, 2001
> Donna Terek / The Detroit News
>The Rev. Levi Williams and his wife Rita almost lost their home when they
were persuaded to take out a second mortgage for $14,000 to put in new
windows.
>
>
>Lenders exploit poor's few assets
>Elderly, minorities often targets
>Part 2: Equity in home
>Part 3: Many ways to lose
>
>
>Poor victimized by high car loans
>Complaints surge against firms getting high auto loan rates
>Car loan tips
>
>
>How to recognize predatory lending
>Sunday, August 19, 2001
>Families in poverty pay more to survive
>Expensive groceries, credit sap resources
> Donna Terek / The Detroit News
>Payday lending is a booming business across the country and is unregulated
in Michigan. Borrowers sometimes pay as much as 900 percent interest.
>
>
>Payday loans trap borrowers
>High fees, interest snare disadvantaged in a vicious cycle
>Part 2: High interest or fee?
>Part 3: Uncertainty in Michigan
>Part 4: Bill has critics
>Part 5: Payday lending defended
>
>
>How payday loans work
>
>
>Less expensive alternatives
>
>
>Tips for avoiding financial trouble
>
>
>State considers some regulation
>Sunday, March 25, 2001
> Photos By Donna Terek / The Detroit News
>Lori Denton, 36, and her three children wound up at a homeless center when
she was fired because unreliable transportation caused her to be late for
work. Solving the transportation problem is integral to the success of
welfare-to-work programs.
>
>
>Off welfare, still broke
>Although employed, poor lose out on economic boom and still struggle
>No car, no bus means no job
>
>2-hour ride strains mom
>Mother of 6 faces long daily bus trip in attempt to get ahead
>Finding a lift proves major hurdle
>No transportation limits job choices for Novi mother
>Working poor eke out living
>Good times rolled by. Now what?
>Donations of cars, van pools offer relief
>Private sector could play key role in filling transportation gaps for the
working poor
>
>   S
>